Sunday, June 7, 2009

SCREW Cover #502, featuring cover artist Paul Kirchner

The name "Paul Kirchner" will be familiar to those of us who read HEAVY METAL during the 1980's, where his surreal, immaculately-drawn strip "The Bus" ran for what seemed like forever. A quick glance at Wikipedia tells me that Kirchner also drew a strip for HIGH TIMES titled "Dope Rider," and also that he worked for Wally Wood as an assistant. What Wikipedia fails to mention is that Kirchner, (using the flimsy pseudonym "Kurt Schnurr") drew a shitload of SCREW covers, (quite possibly more SCREW covers than anyone else).

Fortunately for us, his SCREW covers are very good, displaying excellent draftsmanship, masterful use of SCREW's limited color palette, clever concepts, and lovely ladies. I have quite a few Paul Kirchner SCREW covers in my archive, and I hope to post them all in time, but here's a nice one to get us started.

Sadly I gather Paul lost it all in the Bernie Madoff scandal. Long story but it seems that Madoff, after acquiring a large number of MofU collectibles, finally met Paul and offered to manage his money.

Interestingly some of the Madoff collection was snapped up during the recent auction by Wally Wood's widow.

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About Me:

Danny
Hellman was born on August 2nd, 1964, and was raised in Jackson
Heights, Queens. Hellman graduated from Manhattan's High School of Art
& Design in 1982, and took figure drawing classes at the Art
Students League in subsequent years. During the mid-1980s, while
struggling to earn a living as a bike messenger, Hellman drew gig
posters for the band Floor Kiss, which he also pasted throughout Lower
Manhattan late at night. In the Summer of 1988, Hellman stuffed a stack
of these posters into a portfolio and found his way into the offices of
the notorious Screw Magazine. Screw,
(the first publication to buy Hellman's drawings) was soon followed by
New York Press, the Village Voice, Guitar World, and others. By the mid-90s, Hellman had become a widely-published illustrator whose
distinctive style was a favorite of art directors and readers alike.
Beyond his illustration work, Hellman has drawn comic strips for DC Comics, Fantagraphics, Last Gasp,
and other publishers. Presently, Hellman lives in Brooklyn, NY with his
wife and daughter.